The Wild Card games and Division Series have come to a close, and we are nearing closer and closer to this year’s Fall Classic. I’m happy to say that I’ve predicted every winner, except for the AL Wild Card (sorry for being a Yankees fan). The Blue Jays shocked the Rangers and just about all of baseball by coming back from a 2-0 deficit and winning their next three games to play the Royals in the ALCS. The Royals had three comeback wins throughout the five-game series to send the Astros home, who silenced the Yankee bats during the Wild Card game. As of October 18, the ALCS is at two games to none in favor of the Royals.

As for the National League, Jake Arrieta pulled off almost what Madison Bumgarner did in 2014 to stun the Pirates and move onto the NLDS, where the Cubs would upset the Cardinals in four games. The Amazin’ Mets had a thrilling five-game series with the Dodgers. Daniel Murphy hit key home runs off of Cy Young Award winners, Clayton Kershaw and Zack Grienke. Entering last Sunday night, the Mets are up one game to none on the Cubs.

Although every team in the playoffs is looking to bring home a title, these four teams are all looking to end an at least 20+ year streak without hosting the trophy. The Blue Jays are seeking to win a title for the first time since Joe Carter hit his iconic walk-off home run against the Phillies in 1993. The Mets are trying to bring a trophy back to Queens since Billy Buckner let a feeble ground ball go through his legs in 1986. The Royals haven’t won since 1985, which was their first and only title in team history. And, finally, the Chicago Cubs, a team with one of the biggest droughts in all of baseball, have not won a Fall Classic since the year 1908. That’s 107 years. Our grandparents weren’t even alive the last time the North Side of Chicago has won a World Series!

Royals vs. Blue Jays

After the first two games at Kauffman Stadium last Friday and Saturday, the Royals seemed to have sucked the life out of the Blue Jays. With a 5-0 win in Game 1, Edinson Volquez tossed six solid innings and shut down the feared Toronto lineup. Key contributors throughout the lineup included Alcides Escobar, Lorenzo Cain, Eric Hosmer and Salvador Perez, who each drove in runs. And with three shutout innings from the KC bullpen, the Royals easily took game one. In game two, the Blue Jays were in hopes of evening the series at one, until the 7th inning came along. Toronto gave the Royals an inch, and they took  a mile. Ben Zobrist led off with a weak pop fly that fell between Ryan Goins and Jose Bautista. Kansas City came back to score five unanswered runs and chase David Price, who remains winless in the postseason, out of the game. Lockdown closer Wade Davis came in to seal the deal in the 9th, and Kansas City took advantage of Toronto’s defensive miscues to now lead the series 2-0.

The ALCS will now take place north of the border starting on Monday night, where Johnny Cueto will try and help Kansas City take a 3-0 lead and inch one step closer to back-to-back AL Championships while Long Island native Marcus Stroman will try to give Toronto some hope and make the series 2-1. Now that two of these games have been played, I’m leaning even more towards the prediction I made a week or so ago in Kansas City. Yes, the Blue Jays came back from a two-game deficit a week ago, but this is a completely different team and series. The Royals are the best team in the American League and won’t let a lead like this slip away. And in a best of 7 series, the Royals have some breathing room in case they start to choke. So I think Kansas City will have a chance to snap their thirty-year curse and play who I think will be the New York Mets.

Mets vs. Cubs
Game one was a thriller. Daniel Murphy stayed red hot as he blasted his fourth home run of the postseason off of Jon Lester; Matt Harvey tossed eight solid innings of work and then handed the ball over to Jeurys Familia in the 9th to give the Mets a 4-2 win over the Cubs. Looking forward to the rest of the series, I think Daniel Murphy will continue to stay hot, as will the Mets’ rotation. With Syndergaard and de Grom set to pitch in games 2 and 3, the Mets have a solid chance to take a 3-0 lead on the Cubs and possibly to secure a 4th win and punch a ticket to the World Series against my predicted Royals.

As I mentioned in my previous article, we’re just going to have to watch it all play out. It’s baseball, a sport where anything can happen. Stay tuned as I’ll give my World Series preview when the ALCS and NLCS come to a conclusion in the next couple of days.